Rosie Cross is an Australian Internet publisher, best known as the founder of Geekgirl, a popular Australian magazine and website that began in 1993.
Biography
Rosie (X) Cross
Cross was brought up in Sydney, Australia, the daughter of British immigrants. In 2003, she moved to Melbourne and lived there til 2020. In 2020, she moved to West End, Australia, a suburb of Brisbane. She is also known as "RosieX", and is the founder of Geekgirl, a pioneering Australian cyberfeminist "hyperzine" and website that began in 1993. Lisa Pears as editor and Rob Joyner Jnr as designer, greatly assisted and bolstered the magazine's presence in the early years. Printed copies were available from 1995-1996. Some copies are still exhibited in Museums & Galleries around the world, including the Andy Warhol Museum in Pennsylvania, USA. RosieX also wrote for newspapers, magazines and produced radio documentaries about digital culture for the ABC. RosieX graduated from MCAE, Bathurst with a BA in Journalism. Geekgirl also had longstanding exhibitions at the National Museum Australia, Powerhouse Museum, and Scienceworks. The magazine has been Australia's longest running online publication for the last couple of years. The technology community sees Rosie as an online pioneer, with varied interests in technology, science and the arts. RosieX became vegan in 2012 and advocates for animal rights and welfare. After etymology was conducted by the Macquarie dictionary, it was acknowledged Cross coined the term "Geekgirl". Over the years, many argument have broken out over the rights of the use of the term. Although, she has never profited from copycats, many have gone on to do so using the moniker without appropriate credit or acknowledgement.
Background
Rosie Cross received a bachelor's degree of Communications from Mitchell College of Advanced Education, Bathurst in 1986. She initially worked as a freelance radio producer and writer. She mainly wrote about the Internet culture and how it was shifting. She did programs about the same topic that were broadcast on ABC. Rosie then created the first ever cyber-feminist e-zine. She has appeared in Wired and Australian magazines such as 21•C magazine. With the website Geekgirl Rosie combined her interests in print, radio, and video. She promoted the idea that women now had technology tools to achieve new possibilities that they could not achieve before. She also believed the opportunities for women were greater. To her, the World Wide Web was the start of a new beginning for women.
Recognition
She has been recognized numerous times for her work on Geekgirl. From 1993-2020 has been recognized as Australia's longest and continuously running online publication. Cross won the Intel Achievement Award for Excellence in 2002 and the World's first virtual karaoke competition in Gifu, Japan. Her work has been archived by a number of museums, including the National Museum of Australia and The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The museum told her that if Andy Warhol were alive, he would love it!.
